Working with Labels

Labels are metadata tags for campaigns and journeys that help you organize content, filter views across Iterable, build segmentation queries, review analytics, and work with campaign data in Iterable's API and data exports.

Keep reading to learn how to manage labels in your project and how to use them in Iterable.

# In this article

# Planning a label strategy

Labels work best when they mirror how you actually plan, launch, and report on programs—not when they’re used as a single catch‑all tag applied to everything.

A thoughtful campaign label strategy makes it much easier to build segments, compare performance, and answer questions in Messaging Insights.

Instead of one broad label applied to every program, define labels that reflect the dimensions you care about most. For example:

• Use time-bound labels for recurring programs (for example, annual or quarterly labels like promo_2025, promo_2025_Q1) so you can easily compare periods and filter to recent activity.
• Create seasonal or promotional labels (for example, holiday, black_friday, summer_sale) to quickly pull all activity from a key moment.
• Differentiate by brand, product line, or program (for example, brandA_newsletter, brandA_reengagement, loyalty_program) to support both cross‑brand rollups and brand‑specific views.
• Reserve a small set of reporting labels (for example, a high‑level program name) and pair them with more granular segmentation labels (for example, 2026, Q1, or newsletter) so you can flex between broad and precise queries.

Over time, this kind of structure makes it easier to manage your campaigns, build segments, and view Messaging Insights data—in ways that match how your team works.

# Labels for triggered and journey campaigns

Triggered campaigns and journeys can remain in a matching status for long periods, so they may contribute to large result sets in segmentation queries that include the Campaign Label field.

Iterable limits the number of matching campaigns returned for a Campaign Label query, and long-running campaigns that remain in a matching status may exceed this limit. This increases the need for a coherent label strategy.

To avoid exceeding label limits in segmentation queries, be especially intentional when labeling triggered and journey campaigns:

• Give each campaign labels that reflect its business purpose.
• Create labels that are time-bound to help you compare periods and filter for recent activity (for example, promo_2025, promo_2026_Q1).
• Retire or adjust labels as your campaigns and journeys evolve.

For more information about how Campaign Label queries use launch-date filters and when a date range becomes required, see Segmenting with campaign labels.

# Managing your project's labels

Users with the Manage Settings permission can view and manage a project's labels from the Project Settings page.

From here, you can:

• Create new labels
• Delete labels
• Edit existing labels
• Search for existing labels
• View label IDs

# Creating a label

To create a new label for your project:

1. Go to Settings > Project Settings.
2. Find the Labels section.
3. Click Add New Label.
4. In the menu that opens, enter a name for your new label. Label names must be unique. (You can't create two labels with the same name.)
5. Click Add Label.

When you create a label, Iterable assigns it a unique ID shown in the Label ID column. You can use this ID later to reference the label in API requests. For example, when you create a campaign with the API, you can include one or more of these IDs in the labelIds array.

# Editing a label

To edit a label's name, click the three-dot overflow menu and select Edit. Make your desired changes, then click Save Label.

When you edit the name of a label, the label name is updated in all of the campaigns and journeys where it's used.

# Deleting a label

To delete a label, click the three-dot overflow menu and select Delete. Then click Delete Label to confirm.

# Adding and removing labels on campaigns and journeys

Once you've created some labels in your project, you can attach them to campaigns and journeys. Each campaign and journey can have up to 50 labels, and you can add or remove them at any time.

For journeys, you can add labels in two ways:

• Add labels to the journey itself, to organize and filter journeys.
• Add labels to the campaigns associated with the journey's message tiles. (Journey labels are not automatically applied to the journey's campaigns.)

Making a change to the labels on a campaign or journey updates the labels for the campaign or journey in all of Iterable's reporting views, even if the campaign has already started sending or the journey is already live.

Label changes impact all reporting views, including Query and Messaging Insights. If you remove a label, the campaign and its associated events won't return in Query or Messaging Insights when filtering by that label.

On a campaign or journey details page, click Add Label to attach labels for the first time.

To update existing labels, click the pencil icon next to the labels section and make your desired changes.

# Labels on copies of campaigns and journeys

When you copy a campaign or journey, the copy keeps the original labels until you change them.

The original campaign or journey is not affected when you change the labels on a copy.

# Where you can use labels

After you create and assign labels, you can use them across Iterable to filter content, build segmentation queries, review analytics, and work with campaign data through the API and data integrations. Continue reading to learn more about using labels across Iterable.

# Finding content by label

To find campaigns or journeys with a particular label, go to the Campaigns or Journeys list pages. Click Filters > Label and select one or more labels from the dropdown.

You can also use labels in other filtering views:

• In Messaging Insights, filter campaign performance by label.
• In Experiments, filter experiments by campaign label.

# Using labels in journey start tiles

To limit journey entry based on whether a user received a campaign with a particular label, use the Campaign Label field in an entry rule in a journey Start Tile.

# Using labels in segmentation

Use the Campaign Label field in a segmentation query to find users associated with campaigns that match a particular label.

Segmentation queries using the Campaign Label field can return a maximum of 20,000 matching campaigns. When possible, specify a date range up front to keep the query focused. Longer lookbacks, especially in projects with many triggered or journey campaigns, are more likely to hit query limits.

If a query returns too many matching campaigns, Iterable prompts you to narrow the date range or add other conditions. To learn more, see Segmenting with Campaign Labels.

# Using labels in analytics, event history, webhooks, and data integrations

Labels also appear in analytics and exported campaign data. Depending on the surface, they may appear as label names and/or label IDs:

• In Campaign Analytics, the campaign summary includes the campaign's labels. If you can edit campaigns, you can also update labels there.
• In Messaging Insights, labels help you compare aggregate campaign performance.
• In user profile event history, campaign and journey details can display label names for related events when labels are present.
• In System Webhooks, campaign-related payloads can include labels by name when applicable. They don't include labelIds.
• In Snowflake Secure Data Sharing, campaign data includes label information.
• In Data Sync, campaign-related exports can include label-related campaign metadata, including label names and label IDs, in your warehouse. (Field names for label metadata depend on the current data model for your destination.)

Report views that use campaign labels reflect the labels that are currently assigned. If you change labels after a campaign starts sending, historical reporting uses the updated labels rather than the original label set.

# Labels in Iterable's API

You can interact with labels via the API when you retrieve campaign details and when you create a campaign.

You can include labels when you create a campaign with the API. To learn more, see Creating a campaign with labels.

The following campaign endpoints return labels and labelIds:

• GET /api/campaigns
• GET /api/campaigns/{id}
• GET /api/campaigns/recurring/{id}/childCampaigns